Green For All
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The unsustainable whiteness of green
Environmental organizations aren’t diverse enough to build an effective movement -- at a time when activism matters more than ever.
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On its 39th anniversary, the Clean Water Act needs defenders
This post originally appeared on Treehugger. In 1969, a river caught fire. People of a certain age probably remember when it happened. The Cuyahoga, which runs through northeastern Ohio and outlets into Lake Erie in Cleveland, was heavily contaminated — so much so that stretches of the waterway contained no life at all. It was […]
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Defending EPA: Sen. Ben Cardin, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, and me at Netroots Nation
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), defender of the EPA.Photo: Edward KimmelThe EPA is under full-scale assault. Republicans are working furiously to defund the agency and block or weaken its upcoming regulations on greenhouse gases, toxic hazardous emissions, sulfur dioxide, coal ash, and mountaintop-removal mining. (For more on those rules, see my series “Power Struggle.”) And they […]
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Obama Has His First Opponent To Campaign Against: Extremism
In 2008, Americans were fed up. Wars, a terrible economy, dishonesty, a drift from our core beliefs. That November, Barack Obama said, “Change,” which may basically have meant, “Not that.” Not that direction for America. Not that economic policy. And it worked. America didn’t want that. America wanted something different. Now, reasonable people can debate […]
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This Earth Week: Taking America Back From the Polluters
Last weekend, I was proud to join the likes of former Vice President Al Gore and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson as a keynote speaker at Power Shift 2011. There was an incredible energy; more than 10,000 young leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., to work towards two common goals – a cleaner future and a just […]
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Keep It Fresh: On the Campus Consciousness Tour with Wiz Khalifa
While you were brushing your teeth this morning, did you ever, for a moment, think that the water coming out of your faucet would make you nauseous or damage your kidneys? Probably not. But, unfortunately, not everyone has that luxury. One in three people lack access to quality water. At least fourteen states are currently […]
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The Men Who Cried Wolf
If a fire broke out in your office right now, would you know what to do? Would you know where to go? You likely would, thanks in large part to codes requiring fire exits and fire drills. Today, we accept these basic standards without even pausing; they are plain common sense rules government has developed […]
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In defense of progress: pushing back the ideologues
Progress is a slog. It always is: occasionally pushed forward by a burst of energy; often knocked backward by opposition. In politics, it’s an evolutionary process that depends on gradual re-alignment and re-consideration of views. Consider pollution. At the beginning of the 20th century, the new factories driving the Industrial Revolution emitted a constant stream […]
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Set the Alarm Clock: Don’t Sleep Through the Green Revolution
Originally posted on The Great Energy Challenge “There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution.” The revolution Dr. King spoke of in his speech at the National Cathedral in 1968 was one of the most transformative of the 20th Century – the painful transition from a racially divided America to an America […]